Food Studies: Talking about race in school gardens

Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here . A sign at the Edible Schoolyar "This is some slavery shit." It was a sunny August morning, and we were hoeing, loosening up the dirt in an empty bed so that we could plant lettuce seedlings. I was volunteering in a summer school garden class at a high school in St. Paul, and we were nearing the end of the session. I was helping one student wrestle with some weeds, when I heard another student say it. "This is some slavery shit." I looked up. The student who said it -- an African-American male around 18 years old -- did not seem particularly distressed or angry; he was smiling and his voice had a joking tone. Still, his words were serious. A group of his friends nodded and l...